


The Grump's Way to Smile

by ObsidianMichi



Series: Abelas and Lavellan at Skyhold [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 12:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3326876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianMichi/pseuds/ObsidianMichi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At Skyhold, Eirwen Lavellan teases Abelas about being grouchy. It earns him a kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Grump's Way to Smile

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I own nothing, I just put words in a row.

“Do you ever smile?” Eirwen asked.

At her side, she felt Abelas stiffen.

“I was just wondering,” she continued, crossing her arms. “Varric hasn’t told me your nickname, but he must have given you one.” Her head tilted and she forced her eyes to remain on the practicing recruits below. “Not broody, that’s taken.”

“Is it your habit to ask inane questions?” he asked. “Do all you Dalish behave in such a way? Or is it merely some flaw you alone possess?”

“Grumpy,” Eirwen said. “You’re definitely a grump.” She tapped her chin. “I wonder if that one’s been assigned.”

Abelas leaned forward, his bronze pauldrons glittering in the warm glow cast by the evening’s torches. His hands settled on the stone railing, then he turned. Leaning sideways with one arm resting on the wall, he glanced at her. “You are a strange one.”

Eirwen paused, she glanced at him. A tiny smile quirking her mouth. Leaning forward onto the stone, she rested her ribs against the wall, and matched his pose. “Stoney?”

“I suppose you believe my face acts as stone,” Abelas said. “Unmoving and implacable.”

“Stone,” Eirwen said in her lowest, most serious voice, “never smiles.”

His lips pursed, a smooth brow tilting into a frown. The lines of Mythal’s vallaslin highlighted his features, from his high sharp cheeks to his long aquiline nose. In the shadow of his hood, golden irises gazed at her. They were perpetually sad, filled with the sorrow of his namesake.

“I know,” Eirwen leaned forward. “Grouchy.”

“Grouchy?” Abelas lifted his head. He glanced away, eyes returning to soldiers practicing in the arena. “That cannot be a word.”

“You know,” Eirwen said. “I thought so too when I found it in the Fereldan dictionary.” She lifted a finger. “Then,” she smiled and shifted a little closer. “I discovered cantankerous.”

“You believe me to be…” Abelas snorted, then spat it out, “cantankerous?”

“Well,” she shifted a little closer. “You are old and grumpy—”

“Grouchy,” he said. “As you said.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “And crabby, and tetchy, and…”

His head tilted, his voice completely level. “Irritable, perhaps?”

“I was getting there!” She prodded his gauntlet with her finger. “Crotchety!”

“This shemlen language contains too many words, and almost all are superfluous if they carry similar meanings.”

“I know,” Eirwen sighed. “Aren’t humans fun?”

Abelas leaned forward. “You wish to see me smile, Lethallan?”

“No, Lethallin,” Eirwen said. She tilted her head, lifting her chin. “I take it as a personal challenge.” She grinned. “I must convince you.”

“There might be a way.”

“Oh?” She scooted forward, her hand scraping on the stone. She stopped with fingers centimeters from his bronze gauntlet. Swallowing, Eirwen stared into his eyes. “I’m all ears.”

“It will require an act of great surprise.”

“Will it?”

“Yes,” Abelas said. “My concentration is not so easily broken.”

Eirwen slid a little closer. “It’s not?”

“It may involve extreme dedication.”

“Hmm,” her eyes flicked up to his nose, then his forehead. She bit her lip. “Bet I could do it in one.”

Abelas leaned closer. “Are you so—”

Popping up, Eirwen slid her hand around his hood and pulled him forward. She pressed her lips to his brow. His skin was cold to the touch, her mouth warm. Mythal’s vallaslin burned on her lips, left her tingling.

“Confident?”

She leaned back, dropping onto her heels.

An odd, gravelly laugh shook the air.

Eirwen grinned, crossing her arms. “See,” she said. “Got it.”

“Indeed.” A tiny smile twitched on Abelas’ lips. “You are a wonder all your own.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece for an Anonymous ask on Tumblr that will be posted there once I get all the other shorts for the drabble request done. It's part of a Kiss Meme prompt and was inspired by a scene from 'Babylon 5' where Delenn takes Sheridan to task for being an unfriendly grouch. This plays differently but it's still wondrously silly.


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